{"id":32797,"date":"2020-03-12T14:55:14","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T14:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/12\/iranian-proxy-likely-launched-strike-that-killed-2-us-troops-in-iraq-says-us-general\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:45:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:45:32","slug":"iranian-proxy-likely-launched-strike-that-killed-2-us-troops-in-iraq-says-us-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/03\/12\/iranian-proxy-likely-launched-strike-that-killed-2-us-troops-in-iraq-says-us-general\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian proxy \u2018likely\u2019 launched  strike that killed 2 American troops in Iraq, says US general"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2015 A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2020\/03\/11\/more-than-15-small-rockets-slam-iraqi-base-housing-coalition-troops\/\" target=\"_blank\">rocket attack in Iraq<\/a> that killed two American troops and one U.K. service member was \u201cmost likely\u201d conducted by a Shia militia group, but the U.S. Defense Department is still investigating, according to the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In congressional testimony Thursday, Gen. Kenneth \u201cFrank\u201d McKenzie said \u201cthe Iranian proxy group known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2020\/02\/27\/us-adds-leader-of-iraqi-militia-to-terrorism-blacklist\/\" target=_blank>Kataib Hezbollah<\/a> is the only group known to have conducted an indirect fire attack on this scale against the U.S. coalition forces in Iraq.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A day after the attack, in which a dozen people were injured in a volley of 18 rockets that hit Iraq\u2019s Camp Taji base, McKenzie said America\u2019s \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d campaign against Tehran \u2015 including the presence of more than 10,000 U.S. troops in the Mideast and stiff economic sanctions \u2015 has \u201creestablished a rough form of deterrence\u201d without attributable state-on-state violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have seen they have stood their missiles down, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s an imminent threat,\u201d McKenzie told the Senate Armed Services Committee. \u201cWhat has not been changed is their continuing desire to operate through their proxies against us. And that is a far more difficult area to deter because they believe they can generate a measure of non-attribution with those attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This establishment of the international maritime security construct has ended Iran\u2019s harassment of ships in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/newsletters\/daily-news-roundup\/2019\/12\/29\/this-is-how-the-us-military-is-protecting-the-strait-of-hormuz\/\" target=\"_blank\">Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As of Thursday, McKenzie said U.S. Central Command headquarters is \u201cworking very hard\u201d to attribute the Taji attack. He added later that the chain of command between Iran and its proxies \u201cis not perfect. &#8230; There\u2019s a gap between intent and execution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf you want to stop attacks in the grey zone, you have to convince the ultimate person that it\u2019s not in their long-term interest to continue them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lawmakers wanted to know if the reported 10,000-plus COVID-19 coronavirus cases in Iran are making the Tehran less hostile to Washington and whether it is delaying reprisals against U.S. interests. McKenzie did not see that as likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey are fractured now and they\u2019re having difficulty dealing with the number of things, so it probably makes them &#8230; more dangerous rather than less dangerous,\u201d McKenzie said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the hearing, Republicans praised the U.S. airstrike on Jan. 3 that killed Iran\u2019s most powerful military officer, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2020\/01\/03\/iran-threatens-revenge-following-death-of-qasem-soleimani-as-iraq-government-condemns-assassination\/\" target=\"_blank\">Gen. Qassem Soleimani<\/a>, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a leader of the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, of which Kataib Hezbollah is a member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an exchange with Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, McKenzie affirmed that Tehran was chastened by the strike. \u201cThey have never doubted our capability, they have often doubted our will, and I think that gave them something to think about,\u201d McKenzie said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But panel Democrats were openly skeptical the strike and the administration\u2019s heavy troop deployments to the Mideast were achieving deterrence against Iranian proxy forces. SASC ranking member Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said the administration\u2019s exit from the Iran nuclear deal had also given Tehran a pretext to continue enriching uranium \u201cand may in fact increase the likelihood of conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Wednesday, as news broke about the Camp Taji attack, the U.S. House <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2020\/03\/11\/congress-passes-iran-war-limit-baiting-trump-veto\/\" target=\"_blank\">approved<\/a> a bipartisan, Senate-passed measure Wednesday aimed at limiting President Donald Trump\u2019s authority to launch military operations against Iran. Trump is expected to veto the measure, which he sees as tying his hands in dealing with Tehran and weakening the U.S. in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At Thursday\u2019s hearing, McKenzie acknowledged that since May 2019, Shia militias and Iran\u2019s proxies increased attacks on U.S. interests. Iran\u2019s retaliatory strike in the wake of Soleimani\u2019s death \u201ccrossed the threshold compared to previous attacks and has probably set a lower bar for future actions by the regime,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhile periods of decreased tension may provide the illusion of a return to normalcy,\u201d McKenzie said, \u201cample intelligence and indeed yesterday\u2019s actions indicate the Iranian regime\u2019s desire to continue activities that threaten lives, destabilize sovereign nations, threaten freedom of navigation, regional commerce, global energy supplies and the global economy itself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A rocket attack in Iraq that killed two American troops and one U.K. service member was \u201cmost likely\u201d conducted by a Shia militia group, but the Pentagon is still investigating, the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":55233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","flashpoints"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"4":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","flashpoints"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"5":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","flashpoints"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"6":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","flashpoints"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"7":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","flashpoints"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"}}},"categories":[8,160,11,47,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3446],"class_list":["post-32797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-daily-news-roundup","category-global","category-mideast-africa","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"B53JE5Y5T5HQ7DLC3D72B5RB6M","arc_canonical_url":"\/congress\/2020\/03\/12\/iranian-proxy-likely-launched-strike-that-killed-2-us-troops-in-iraq-says-us-general\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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